In the Likely Event(44)

I stopped in my tracks, pivoting to face her as dread settled in my stomach. “Why else do you think I would be here?”

Her anger melted, but the look of pity that replaced it wasn’t much better. “Izzy, I can’t leave. I have a job to do here. It hasn’t been the full six months. I’m still on assignment for another thirty days.”

“The country is . . .” I shook my head.

“Collapsing,” Nate said, striding our way. “The country is collapsing.”

“Then it’s my job to cover it,” Serena stated like that was the end of the discussion.

“You don’t mean that.” The words rushed out in a whisper.

“I do.” She adjusted the straps of her backpack. “I’m here doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. This is the longest assignment I’ve ever been given. I fought for it, and I’m not about to end it early just because it’s getting dangerous. I’d never be able to hold my head up at the office.”

Nate lifted his hand to his earpiece and cocked his head to the side. “Working on it,” he barked in the professional tone I’d grown accustomed to before facing Serena. “Serena, I hear what you’re saying, but it’s not safe for you to stay. You know that. I know that. Izzy knows that. Three provinces have fallen in the last twenty-four hours. I completely understand your dedication to your profession, but for the sake of your sister, I’m not above begging you to get on that helicopter.”

And that tone? That wasn’t Sergeant Green. That was my Nate. I looked up at him, and my heart clenched. Underneath all the Kevlar and the weapons, he was still the same man who’d held me after my nightmare this morning. The same man who’d pulled me from that airplane ten years ago.

“You would get my dedication to my profession, wouldn’t you?” Serena said with a sigh. “Hell, your dedication to yours is the entire reason Izzy ended up in Senator Lauren’s office. Are you going to end your deployment early?”

She. Did. Not. My head snapped toward Serena, but she didn’t catch the panicked rise of my brows because she was looking at Nate.

“What?” Nate asked.

Serena scoffed. “You seriously thought it was a coincidence that she’s spent the last three years working for the woman who’s been pushing legislation to end this war? That she took off for Washington right after you . . .” Her voice trailed off.

A muscle in Nate’s jaw ticked as he slowly brought his gaze to lock with mine.

My stomach dropped.

Shit. It didn’t matter that the legislation had never stood a chance, or that I’d basically been beating my head against a brick wall for all the progress we’d made. I’d spent the last few years fighting fruitlessly to end the conflict that had dragged him from my arms time and again, and now he knew it.

I saw it all in those blue eyes. Shock, disbelief, denial, and an emotion too dangerous to acknowledge, let alone name. He looked at me like he used to before New York, dropping the wall he’d locked himself behind.

“Oh shit. You thought it was coincidence. You really didn’t know,” Serena muttered.

I couldn’t look away. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t confirm or deny the blatant truth Serena had laid at his feet, exposing me with nothing more than a few words. All the Kevlar in the world couldn’t protect my heart from its own foolish longing to hurl itself at Nate.

“Izzy, I’m so sorry,” Serena said softly.

Nate blinked and looked away. “I know. ETA five minutes.” He was talking through his radio, and when he finished, he looked at Serena. “Here’s the deal. I’m putting Isabeau on that helicopter in five minutes. I really hope you’re on it.”

She swallowed and glanced back to where Taj was talking to Sergeant Whatever Color. “Even if I wanted to go, which I don’t, I can’t leave him. He doesn’t have his visa yet.”

“Has he started his paperwork?” I asked. “Because if that’s all that’s keeping you here, I can—”

“It’s in process.” She moved forward and cupped both sides of my face. “What did I tell you the first time you asked me not to cover a war zone?”

“That ignoring a situation doesn’t make it better for the people living it.” My throat threatened to close, my body recognizing my defeat before my heart.

“I still feel the same way. Me leaving isn’t going to help these people. The least I can do is bear witness.”

“You’re not coming with me, are you?” My voice broke on the last word.

She shook her head. “I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to quit.”

I pressed my lips between my teeth and fought the immediate burning in my eyes. The very passion I’d always admired about Serena had the potential to get her killed, and I didn’t know what to do about it.

“I’ll give you guys a minute, but that’s all we have,” Nate said quietly before walking toward Taj.

“I won’t be able to come back,” I whispered. “I pulled every string I had to get here, and I have the feeling Nate did too.”

She smiled. “Only you would come searching in the first place, and I love you for it.” Leaning forward, she rested her forehead against mine. “But I can’t leave. Not yet.”